Abstract: The regional characteristics of intellectual property protection determine the strategies taken by enterprises engaged in multinational investment, economic and trade activities to participate in the national layout of intellectual property rights (IPRs) under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A study of those international conventions on IPRs which both China and other countries （involved in BRI） have joined shows that no universal conventions are applicable to all BRI countries. Therefore, it is realistic and feasible at the moment to strengthen bilateral cooperation and innovate bilateral treaty system. For instance, the legal mechanism of bilateral treaties on IPRs under BRI should embody the “common but differentiated” principle, not only demonstrating external unification, but also formulating differentiated bilateral treaty legal systems sensitive to the different intellectual property environments of the concerned countries. The strategy of “primary bilateral development, supplementary multilateral development and progressive development” should be embodied so as to achieve BRI goals step by step. We should improve China’s bilateral treaty system on IPRs by taking “the principle of coordinated advancement between trade and investment and IPRs” and “the principle of supporting capacity cultivation” as the core guidelines.

Key words: Key words： Belt and Road Initiative, bilateral treaty system, common but differentiated, progressive development, trade and investment, IPRs